Ann McCoy received her B.F.A. from the University of Colorado in 1969 and an M. A. in sculpture and drawing from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1972. Her first works were wooden sculptures of mountains; later, she made cast resin sculptures of icebergs. In the early 1970s, after she abandoned sculpture for monumentally scaled drawings done in colored pencil, her success came fast. By the mid 1970s she was a nationally acclaimed artist with a number of solo shows to her credit. In 1974 McCoy first exhibited drawings of underwater explorations, for which she is largely known today. A scuba diver since 1968, McCoy works from photographs of the plant and animal life of the subaquatic world, creating drawings and hand-colored lithographs distinctive for their meticulous detail and surrealistic mood.